US governor accused of blackmailing his hairdresser after affair

A US governor is fighting allegations he photographed his hairdresser naked while having an affair with her, and threatened to publicise the image if she spoke about their relationship.

Eric Greitens, 43, was elected governor of Missouri in 2016 and has admitted to having an affair with the woman in March 2015.

Mr Greitens yesterday acknowledged being "unfaithful" in his marriage before he was elected governor but denied taking any naked photos and blackmailing the woman to stay quiet.

The governor and his wife released a statement earlier this week after US television station KMOV aired a bombshell report that he had a sexual relationship with the hairdresser. The report included allegations from the woman's ex-husband, who secretly recorded a conversation with his ex-wife discussing the affair.

The affair was "a deeply personal mistake," the Greitens' statement said. "Eric took responsibility, and we dealt with this together honestly and privately."

Through his attorney, the governor also denied an allegation from the ex-husband that Mr Greitens slapped the woman, saying any accusation of violence is "completely false."

Eric Greitens poses with his wife, Sheena and his two sons Jacob and Joshua in 2016. (AAP) ()

The woman involved did not comment on the record to the TV station, which did not name her. But her ex-husband, who also was not named, provided the audio recording to KMOV. On the recording, the woman gave details about a sexual encounter she says she had with Mr Greitens in March 2015 at his St. Louis home. The woman did not know her then-husband was recording their conversation.

Related Articles

The alleged encounter came after Mr Greitens created a committee to explore a bid for governor but before he officially announced his candidacy. She said on the tape that he invited her downstairs at his home because he wanted to show her "how to do a proper pull-up."

She said: "I knew he was being sexual, and I still let him. And he used some sort of tape, I don't know what it was, and taped my hands to these rings and then put a blindfold on me."

She said she later realised he took a photo of her.

"I saw a flash through the blindfold and he said, 'You're never going to mention my name.'"

The woman did not immediately return a call left by The Associated Press at the salon where she worked.

A bipartisan group of state senators signed a letter asking the attorney general to investigate. Attorney General Josh Hawley's office said it would defer to local prosecutors, as required by state law.

The letter signed by both Democrats and Republicans called the allegations "deeply disturbing" and said a swift investigation was necessary to avoid having the matter "overpower" the 2018 legislative session.

GOP leaders in the Missouri Senate released a joint statement describing the allegations as "shocking and concerning" and urging Greitens to be "honest and forthright." At least two Democratic state lawmakers called on the governor to resign.

The Legislature adjourned Thursday for the long Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Lawmakers were not scheduled to return until Tuesday.

Eric Greitens and his wife Sheena Greitens. (AA) ()

Months after the affair, the hairdresser sent Mr Greitens an email asking him to stop booking appointments at the salon where she worked.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the email was sent October 20, 2015, three weeks after Greitens filed papers formally starting his 2016 gubernatorial campaign. It was sent to the same account that Greitens listed on a website he used in the campaign.

The newspaper did not say how it obtained the email.

She asked Mr Greitens, whom she called by his first name, to "please consider all who are involved and the circumstances around us." She said returning to the salon "isn't fair to me, nor anyone close to us" and that she needed to "move forward."

The lawyer for the ex-husband said the FBI has contacted him several times since October 2016 about the affair. Attorney Al Watkins said the agency has spoken to him about the affair and the blackmail allegations. He did not say if the ex-husband has also heard from the FBI.

A spokeswoman for the FBI's St. Louis office said the agency could not confirm or deny that it was investigating.

Bennett denied that authorities are involved.

"The claim that this nearly three-year-old story has generated or should generate law enforcement interest is completely false," he said.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner initially said that no criminal complaint had been filed against Greitens and no evidence of a crime presented to her office. But after further consideration, she said, she concluded that an investigation is necessary.

During the 2016 campaign, Mr Greitens cast himself as an outsider going up against a career politician, the state's Democratic attorney general. He has barely hidden his higher political ambitions and reserved the web address ericgreitensforpresident.com years ago.

Sheena Greitens is an assistant professor in the political science department at the University of Missouri and co-director of the university's Institute for Korean Studies. Much of her research focuses on China and North Korea.

The Greitens married in 2011 and have two young sons. The governor was married once before and divorced in 2003.

Watkins said his client and the woman who had the affair tried to reconcile but that the relationship with Mr Greitens continued for several months and caused their breakup.

The ex-husband told KMOV that he believed the story would eventually be made public and he wanted to protect his family.